Life

The Monday Round-Up: Solid Performances in China and Chile

Steffen, Azevedo, Goss and Potts take victories in Shanghai and Coquimbo; The Buzz and a quick look at the weekend races on tap.

At a Glance

IRONMAN 70.3 Coquimbo

American sweep in Chile

Riding the high of a top-ten finish at the IRONMAN World Championship brought to you by Amazon just seven day earlier, Andy Potts (USA) flew into Chile to take on the competition at IRONMAN 70.3 Coquimbo.

Exiting the Pacific Ocean with the lead, Potts rode off the front with Felipe Van de Wyngard (CHL) for much of the 90K. Potts put in a big push in the final kilometers of the bike and entered T2 with close to a minute advantage on Van de Wyngard and over four minutes on Santiago Ascenco (BRA).

Once on the run, the front pair ran controlled with a gap ranging from six to eight seconds for much of the first half of the run. Van de Wyngard would inch close to Potts but could never quite bridge the gap, while Ascenco reduced his deficit to just +2:00 through the first 10.5K. Once the lead pair started the second of two laps, Potts upped the pace and Van de Wyngard was unable to match it. With Van de Wyngard faltering, Ascenco made the pass for second while Potts cruised down the finish line chute to clutch the winner's banner in a time of 4:02:30.

The race would quickly shake down to Alicia Kaye (CAN) and Lauren Goss (USA) in the women’s field of four. The pair emerged from the water together and biked most of the ride within seconds of one another. Kaye would open up a leading gap of close to two minutes on Goss in the last 20K, while third and fourth place were facing 14 and 29 minutes deficits at the bike end.

Kaye bumped her lead to +2:22 after 8K of the run and +1:53 at halfway and then started to fade. As her leading gap plummeted, Goss's pace went up. By 19K, Kaye surrendered her lead to Goss, who managed to take the win by a +1:08 margin.

IRONMAN 70.3 Shanghai

The men’s field saw a bunch of 10 charge the fast and flat bike leg around the stunning Mingzhu Lake Park on Chongming Island. The group was whittled down on the run, though, when the stronger runners asserted themselves. Portugal’s Filipe Azevedo produced a 1:12 effort to outrun South African Matt Trautman in a sprint finish. Azevedo, formerly based in Dubai, scored his breakthrough win in the distance after two podiums this year (it was also the third time he's run 1:12 over the 21.1K distance.) Trautman, off the back of wins in South Africa and Finland and a first IRONMAN victory last month in Wales, ran a PB if 1:13 to come up 3 seconds short. Popular Aussie Mitch Robins, who was based in Asia for some time, prevailed in third.

Caroline Steffen of Switzerland made it two wins in a row, with her 1:20 run only bettered twice in her illustrious career and her fourth podium this year in her return following the birth of her son. Swiss compatriot Imogen Simmonds hung with Steffen on the bike and for much of the run, eventually falling back to second 1:30 behind while South Africa’s Jeanni Seymour produced the best run (1:18) to push up to third.

The Buzz

Is this the future?

Opening September 2019: an urban low-oxygen training center in Tokyo’s futuristic Toyosu district, midway between the 2020 Tokyo Athletes’ Village and competition venues. Developed by Asics, the unprecedented athletic facility will include a swimming pool, running lanes and a training gym, all at low oxygen. While endurance athletes have experimented with sleeping and training in a high altitude-chamber – or joining the triathlete migration to Boulder – a local low-oxygen gym sounds much more convenient. Unfortunately, there’s no word on if or when the Tokyo facility will be replicated in the U.S.

Led by DJ Melody Kane on a party rickshaw, a mob of HOKA-wearing urban athletes hit the streets of London for night running and bootcamps. The event was organized by HOKA ONE ONE to showcase their new Fly at Night Collection, designed for dawn-patrol and midnight runners. Between the street art, the music and the iconic locations, we’re sold.

Tron your Zwift

Zwift is releasing a futuristic New York world, and thrillingly, it looks a lot like “TRON: Legacy.” Zwift’s fifth world includes 10 new cycling and three 3 new running routes, set in a New York 100 years in the future. “The escapism of our New York world will transport Zwifters back to their video gaming days as they ride and run through our futuristic take on New York, around Central Park and on the suspended glass roads above Manhattan,” says Zwift Co-Founder and CEO, Eric Min. With pros from Tim Don to Matt Russell, Lionel Sanders and Andy Potts increasingly relying on indoor training to for safety and consistency, we bet some big names will be joining the Zwift Tour of New York, starting October 23.

We like our energy bars carbon neutral

Clif sets the bar high -- again. On September 10th we reported that the CLIF CORPS Re-Ternship is paying employees to become the next generation of non-profit leaders. Now Clif Bar & Co. has broken ground on a solar array that will supply 30% of the energy to its 300,000-square-foot plant in Idaho. "We treat energy like an ingredient and are committed to using green power to run our business," says Elysa Hammond, director of environmental stewardship for Clif Bar & Co. After it’s completed in June of 2019, the 5-acre system will be the region’s largest onsite solar power source. Clif’s Idaho site already runs on 100% green power, and features a reflective roof and a water source heat pump.